Too Much of a Good Thing? Why I stopped Olaplex

-

 Before my title causes you to get out the torches and pitchforks, allow me to explain. Olaplex changed my life. I was trying to figure out my hair texture and the weird curls and texture I would see in the shower led me to believe that I secretly had curly hair that was being mistreated and heated to a frizzy, sad mess. That is, until I started using Olaplex. Immediately, my hair was smooth, bouncy, shiny, soft...all those adjectives you read on the back of a shampoo bottle! I was hooked! Gimme no. 6, no. 4, no. 5! Oh wait, there a no. 8? Yes! I'll take a no. 7 and a no. 3! No, these aren't entrees from a Chinese takeout menu but products from their hair repair system and I tried (nearly) all of them! At my peak, I was regularly using at least 5 of the 7 products they had in the complete system. Which was all well and good, until it wasn't.

I first noticed a problem when my hair just felt limp upon waking up instead of bouncy and voluminous. Ok, weird. Maybe I slept extra-hard...on all sides of my head? Then I noticed the texture was a bit waxy and heavy. That's when I knew I had a problem. You see, hair needs a balance of moisture and protein. Too much of one can throw off the balance and guess what olaplaex adds? Protein and in my case, lots of it. But I couldn't just throw on a deep moisturizing treatment and be done, I need to take step back.

This also came in handy when the hubby 
accidentally used in-shower lotion as a shampoo in his hair!


I added good ol' Neutrogena's Anti-Residue shampoo and stopped using the Olaplex shower and conditioner. I had also run out of pre-shampoo so my routine just consisted of clarifying shampoo every week, Olaplex once a week and my regular L'Oreal shampoo the other wash days. It felt weird, leaving my faithful Olaplex in the corner but slowly, I noticed that my hair returned a little bit to its previous lustrous state. I know now that my hair was just too heavy and even with regular heat use, there just wasn't enough damage to correct so the Olaplex just sat on top of my hair and weighed it down. Turns out you can have too much of a good thing!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Healing Scars: Specially Requested Topic

-
Image
 This blog was born out of two reasons: 1. for my daughter to have a documented way to take care of herself...when she decides mama has something worthwhile to say and 2. from the numerous friends and family who have asked to have my ideas and research documented for them. The specific topic of healing acne scars was something that has been requested a few times so I thought it was about time to document it! What is scarring? So, for the purpose of this post, I will be discussing acne scars. Many people refer to any mark left after acne is gone as acne scars but there are actually two different types of scars, PIH and atrophic scars. PIH (Post-inflammatory Hyperpigmentation) These are the red or brown discolorations that are left after your acne is healed. This can be a result of popping the pimple or just because you have melanin and your skin is prone to pigmentation. They are not 3-dimensional and you may have reasonable success in covering it with makeup. These scars will get worse
Read more

Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me? A Guide to Cute Feet

-
Image
Sun's out, toes out! When the weather gets warmer, we get cuter options for footwear with sandals and flip-flops leading the way. But if your heels are callused and your toes have seen better days, you may find that you are less excited about the prospect of open-toed footwear. Never fear, your girl is here with a guide to keeping your toes as cute as possible at home! 1. Don't go barefoot First of all...if you wear shoes in your home...stop doing that, its just gross. But if you go barefoot at home, wear socks or slippers! Barefoot, even at home, can cause calluses and damage to your feet. 2. Exfoliate! Whaaa...even your feet?? Yes! I personally love the Babyfoot Peel for a bi-annual, at-home pedicure. This magical yet gross process starts with your pre-soaked feet in plastic booties and ends a few days later with sheets (that's right...I said sheets) of dead skin peeling off your feet. It gives you the same, enthralled feeling of disgust you get when you look at a pore st
Read more

Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me: Shower Hair Routine

-
 So, one of the perks of quarantine has been researching and just learning from others...usually through online forums. This has lead me down a rabbit hole of things that seem very obvious and commonplace to others but apparently no one knew or shared with me as I was growing up. Hence, the first in what I hope will be a series.."why didn't anyone tell me?" As a child of the 90s, Bath-and-Body Works and Herbal Essence were a staple of my shower routines but beyond that, everything else was learned through the pages of glossy teen publications and hearsay from friends. I remember being surprised that my friend brushed her hair in the shower and thinking..."wait, is this something everyone should be doing??" Now, I've come up with some things I found new and surprisingly but has made a big improvement in my shower routine. Pre-shampoo My curly girls sisters may already know about this but apparently your shower strips moisture and natural oils from your hair s
Read more